Hot cap



H R. SAGE June 7, 1932.

HOT CAP 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed May 4, 1931 Inventor; V fierbertfi fia qe,

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June 7, 1932. H. R. SAGE 1,861,981

HOT CAP 1 Filed May 4, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Attorney.

Patented June 7, 1932' 7 UNITED stares- PATENT ori ice 'HERBERT R. SAG-E, OE LOS AN GELES, CALIFORNIA HOT CAP Application filed May- 4, 1931.

: I do not limit myself to the forms disclosed,

since various changes and adaptations may be made therein without departing from the essence of my invention as hereinafter claimed; and objects and advantages, other than those specifically mentioned, are included within its scope.

This invention relates to the construction of so-called hot-caps for protecting seeds and young plants, to hasten and otherwise aid their growth. The salient objects of the invention include; first, to provide an improved form of hot-cap for the above purpose, and an economical method for producing it; second, to provide a hot-cap construction that is better adapted to withstand the effects of wind and rain, than the devices that have hitherto been produced for this purpose; third, to provide a device of this char acter that will strongly resist collapsing by reason of the weight of any moisture or frost that may collect thereupon; fourth, to furnish a hot-cap that is adapted for selectively filtering solar radiation to eliminate such rays as are considered to be harmful to young plant growth; and fifth, to secure the foregoing objects in a device that also tends to repel destructive insects. Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the subjoined detailed description.

My objects are attained in the-manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings which show an approved form of the invention, and in' which Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a sheet of prepared material from which the blanks for forming the caps are to be cut, showing a preferred arrangement of such blanks'with respect to the material;

,Figure 2 is a plan view of a cap blank after being cut from the material, and after being otherwise prepared for being formed into a completed cap;

Figure 3 is a partly broken elevation of a completed cap, showing the manner in which it may be anchored in place in the earth; and,

Serial No. 534,855.

Figure 4: is a-plan view of a-co'mplet'ed cap; Figures 1 and 2 are drawn to the same scale; and Figures 3 and 4 are drawn to a somewhat larger scale. Similar reference numerals refer tosimilar parts throughout the several views. V V

In manufacturing my'hot-caps first take a long strip of suitable material; such as properly prepared water-proofe'd' paper in roll form, and attachaseriesof longitudinal spaced reinforcing'str'ips tooneside thereof; as by means of parafine wax or other-water proof adhesive. Tl11S may be accomplished by a continuous process in ways-that are well understood. A sheet 'of' such material is shown at 5, and the reinforcing strips are shown at 6. a H

The cap blanks, in the form of circular sec tors or annular sectors,are cut fromitlie thus prepared sheet. The form of my invention 7 that has been selected for illustrationis a hollow truncatedcone, and the blanks from which such caps are made are'annularsector's cut from the prepared she'et'along the dotted lines 7, 8, and 9. I prefer to cut'tlie blanks from the prepared sheet in such a manner that the reinforcing strips willbe 'perpendic ular to th-eaxes of symmetry of the blanks, as illustrated. Q

After being severed from the prepared sheet, radial kerfs 10 are cut'inwar'dly anniform distance'from' thelarger circular por tion of the perimeter of the blanks, and theyj will then appear as shown in Fig; 2. i The blanks'are next formed into 'a conical cap over a mandrel, with the reinforcing strips on the-inside, and-with'edge's 11' and 12 overlappedby the amount indicated byv broken line 13.- These" overlapped portions are then-joined together byme'ans-of a water= proof adhesive.

Finally the flaps Mare-bent outwardly'to form what amounts to=akerfed circular flange at the base of the conical cap as showninFig. 4. These fiaps may have earth placed over. them, in the manner illustrated atkl o in Fig.3, and'thus are-adapted'ito serve a's meah's for' anchoringthe capsinplace.

form of loops, in planes that intersect the axis of the cone obliquely. These reinforcing loops are either closed on themselves or terminate at the supported base of the cone, and are thus adapted to act as structural arches for resisting lateral pressure against the cap. The fact that the planes of these loops are oblique to the axis of the cone, enables the reinforcing strips to act structurally as diagonal braces also, to resist vertical forces that might otherwise cause the cap to collapse, such as the weight of accumulated water or frost upon the outer surface.

I prefer'to use for the material of the caps, a suitable kind of waterproofed paper, such as parafiined paper, of a quality and color that is adapted to act as a selective filter of solar radiation to exclude such rays as may be considered harmful to young plant life. In this manner both the opacity and color of the material may be selected to produce the maximum bene oial effect. The material may be impregnated or otherwise treated with substances such as creosote or arsenical compounds, to repel the invasion of destructive insects, and thus add to the usefulness of the device.

I also prefer to make my cap in the form of a truncated cone, as illustrated, for several reasons. This form provides a small circular opening 16 at the top ofthe cap, that is necessary for ventilating purposes. The growing plant will, in time, extend through this opening; and further growth of the plant, after it has reached this stage and no longer requires the protection of the cap, will finally result in tearing the relatively weak material of which the cap is formed. Thus the caps eventually will be automatically removed by the growth of the plant that was protected thereby in its early life. In this truncated form of cap therefore, there will be no necessity for hand removal.

It will be obvious that the arrangement of the cap blanks with reference to the prepared material from which they are cut, may be considerably varied, and it also will be plain that various departures may be made in the arrangement, spacing, and dimensions, of reinforcing strips 6. Such departures will result in a more or less different arrangement of the reinforcement of the completed cap; but, in any event, the reinforcing strips will tend to take the form of structural. arches, disposed in planes that are oblique to the axis of the cap.

The drawings, for purposes of clarity, show the material of the cap, and of the reinforcing strips, as being of considerable thickness. In practice these are much thinner in pro-portion than the illustrations indicate. Nevertheless the reinforcing strips will add very materially to the mechanical strength of the cap to resist collapse by reason of superposed moisture or frost, and to resist the lateral force of wind pressure.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim:

1. A hot-cap comprising, a hollow conical body with spaced encircling reinforcing str1ps on its surface; said strips being substantially in planes that intersect the axis of the body obliquely.

2. A hot-cap comprising; a hollow conical body with spaced encircling reinforcing strips on its interior surface; said strips being substantially in parallel planes that intersect the axis of the body obliquely. 3. A hot-cap comprising, a hollow conical body with spaced encircling reinforcing strips on its interior surface; said strips forming closed loops and being substantially in planes that intersect the axis of the body obliquely.

HERBERT R. SAGE. 

